This is a very common line that Japanese say after they take bath or after they get their hair cut or change out of their dirty clothes into clean clothes.

Also you can say this when you describe refreshing taste. さっぱりした味 ( = sappari shita aji)

♦「いいお湯だった」( = Ii oyu datta) It was nice warm water!

いい ( = ii) ：good

（お）湯 ( = (o)yu) : hot water

だった ( = datta) : was (でした。( = deshita) is more polite.)

♦「お先に！」( = Osakini! ) Thank you for letting me go first!

You say this to a person who lets you go first or was waiting for you to finish something before them.

「お先に失礼しました！」

= Osaki ni shitsurei shimashita.

is more polite.

If you want to say “Go ahead!” and let someone go before you:

「お先にどうぞ！」

= Osaki ni douzo

= “Please go ahead!”

Or if you want to use something or leave / go before someone, you say,

「お先に失礼します！」

= Osaki ni shitsurei shimasu

= “I am sorry to leave early!”“I am sorry to use this before you!”

→We also say this to our coworkers if we leave work before them.

OK, today we will use a TV commercial to learn Japanese.

You will be surprised how much you can learn from such a short TV commercial.

Did you know that lots of Hollywood movie stars routinely appear in Japanese TV commercials.

This is one of my favorites. Tommy Lee Jones is an alien and he was sent to the earth, (in this case Japan), to do some research!

It is part of a long running series of commercials. In every commercial he changes his job (presumably to help him do his research better). In this one he is working at a hot-spring 「温泉」( = onsen) hotel.

宇宙人ジョーンズ ( = Uchuujin jounzu) Alien Jones

地球調査中 ( = Chikyuu chousa chuu.) researching the earth

K : 客 ( = kyaku) a customer

J: ジョーンズ ( = Jounzu) Jones

会話（ = kaiwa) Dialogue

J: 「いらっしゃいませ！」

=Irasshaimase!

= “Welcome! ” ”Thank you for coming!”

K : 「….この雪景色が綺麗ですねえ。」

=….Kono yukigeshiki ga kirei desunee.

= This snowscape is so beautiful.

J: 「この惑星の住人は温泉と呼ばれる場所に来ると…」

=Kono wakusei no juunin wa onsen to yobareru basho ni kuruto..

= When people on this planet come to a place called “onsen (hot-spring)”

K;「つるつるになりますよ、これ！」

=Tsurutsuru ni narimasu yo, kore!

= “This hot spring makes my skin silky smooth! “

J:「何故妙にテンションが上がるのだろうか。」

=Naze myou ni tenshon ga agaru no darou ka.

= “It’s curious why they get so excited (when they come to hot springs.).”

K : 「う〜ん、口の中に甘みがぱあっと広がってですねえ….」

= Uun.. Kuchi no naka ni amami ga paatto hirogatte desunee..

= ”Umm… the sweetness (of the food) spreads in my mouth and..”

K : 「あ〜やりませんか？」

=Ah, yarimasen ka?

= ”Ah, do you wanna play (with me)? ”

J: 「ただ、この惑星の温泉卓球は…」

= Tada kono wakusei no onsen no takkyuu wa.

= “But the table tennis at the hot springs on this planet is…”

K : 「番頭さん、ただ者じゃないねえ..」

= Bantou san, tadamono jya nai nee.

= “Manager, you are not just a common sort of guy! “

K : 「あ〜〜〜」

= Aaaa..

= ”Ah….!”

J: 「楽しい！」

= Tanoshii

= “Fun!”

このろくでもない

= Kono rokudemo nai

= This darn (but)

すばらしき世界。

= Subarashiki sekai

= Wonderful world

Vocabulary and grammar

•宇宙人（ = uchuu jin）alien

•宇宙( = uchuu) universe

•宇宙飛行士 ( = uchuu hikoushi) astronaut

•地球 ( = chikyuu) the earth

地 (chi/ji) earth, ground

rrrr:球 (kyuu/tama)globe

•調査 ( = chousa) ：to research,to investigate,study

rrrr:調 (chou/shirberu)to check、to look up, to search

Grammar :

~中 ( = chuu) in middle of , verb + ing, during some action.

調査中 ( = chousa chuu) to be researching (now)

食事中 ( = shokuji chuu) to be eating (now) during a meal

Ex.「マギーは今、食事中です。」

= Maggie wa ima shokuji chuu desu.

= Maggie is eating right now.

Ex. 「食事中にテレビを観てはいけません。」

= Shokuji chuu ni terebi wo mite wa ikemasen.

= “Don’t watch TV during a meal.”

食事 ( = shokuji) meal, to eat

• 勉強中 ( = benkyou chuu) : to be studying

勉強（ = benkyou) study

• 工事中 ( = kouji chuu)：under construction

工事 ( = kouji) construction

• （電話が）話し中 ( = denwa ga hanashi chuu) : (the telephone line is ) busy

cf. 真っ最中 ( = massaichuu)at the middle of / right in the middle of some action

Ex.「マギーはテレビを観ている真っ最中です。」

= Maggie wa terevi wo miteiru massaichuu desu.

= Maggie is right in the middle of watching TV.

Note: 最中 ( = saichuu)：in the middle of some action

You can emphasize more by adding 真っ ( = mah) in front.

Remember 真っ+ color in my color lesson?

真っ黒 ( = makkuro)very black, 真っ赤 ( = makka) very red)

• 惑星 ( = wakusei) a planet

• 住人 ( = juunin) dwellers,inhabitant

→住（juu/sumu)to live

→人 (nin/hito) person/people

• 温泉 ( = onsen) hot spring

→温 (on/atatakai/atatameru) : warm / to warm up/temperature

→泉 (sen/izumi): spring/fountain

Culture note :

Japan has lots of volcanos and they have developed nice hot spring resorts all over Japan.

It is supposed to be really good for your health and skin because it has lots of good minerals. We love to go there on our vacations to relax. We often hear the conversations like this one:

「ああ〜疲れた！温泉にでも行ってゆっくりしたい！」

= Aa…tsukareta onsen ni demo itte yukkuri shitai!

= “Gosh, I am so tired. I feel like going to hot-spring and just relax!”Most of the onsens are public baths. (It considered sanitry and considerate to wash and rinse our bodies outside before stepping into the common (public) bathtubs.) We are not inhibited about taking off our clothes and becoming naked in a public bath. They are separated into 男湯 ( = otokoo yu) for men and 女湯( = onna yu) for women.

Occassionaly there is 混浴風呂 ( = konyoku buro) bath that men and women take bath together, mixed bathing

混 ( = kon/majiru/mazeru) means to mix浴 （= yoku/abiru) to bathes

Also there are 露天風呂 ( = roten buro) open air bath.

While you stay there, you eat good food, take baths and drink and take more baths…Many people take baths three times a day, in the morning, before dinner and after dinner.

• 温泉と呼ばれる場所

= onsen to yobareru basho

= a place called “onsen”(=hot spring)

*〜と呼ばれる + noun ( = to yobareru) : nouncalled ~

* 場所 ( = asho) a place

Ex.マギー先生と呼ばれる犬

= Maggie sensei to yobareru inu

= a dog called “Maggie-sensei”.

• 〜（する）と ( = (suru) to) When (the subject) does something+result

Ex.あまり食べると太る ( = Amari taberu to futoru) If I eat too much, I get fat.

テンション ( = tenshon) is originally from the English word, “tension”. But it differs in meaning.

When you see or hear something pleasant or exciting, you say

「テンション（が）上がる。」

= tenshon (ga) agaru

= “to be excited!” “psyched up” or “hyped up”

他動詞 ( = tadoushi) transitive verb

上げる ( = ageru) to raise to turn up

下げる ( = sageru) to let down, to turn down, to get down

自動詞 ( = jidoushi)intransitive verb

上がる ( = agaru) to go up

下がる ( = sagaru) to go down

On the contrary, when you see or hear something depressing, you say 「テンション（が）下がる。」( = tenshon (ga) sagaru!) which means “to lose one’s motivation” or “to be depressed.”

•口の中に広がる ( = kuchi no naka ni hirogaru)

口の中 ( = kuchi no naka) inside of mouth

広がる ( = hirogaru) to spread, extend, expand

Cultural note:

You will be surprised to see the amount of TV shows that introduce delicious or special food in Japan.

That is called 「グルメ番組」( = gurume bangumi) Gourmet program.

They introduce lost of nice restaurants in the city and local areas. There are special reporters for that kind of programs who are called as グルメレポーター( = gurume repootaa) We simply see them eating delicious food and they have to know how to describe the food in a professional way. 「~が口の中（一杯に）広がる」 ( = ga kuchi no naka (ippai) ni hirogaru) is one of the typical lines to describe the taste. Or 「この味はまったりしていて…」（ = Kono aji wa mattari shiteite.) It tastes very mild and…is another typical line for this kind of show.

So this scene is funny because the customer sounds like one of the reporters.

They both mean to do (something.) Some says 「する」( = suru) is more polite than「やる」 ( = yaru) . That could be true in certain cases but usually 「やる」“yaru” is to do something more special than 「する」 ( =suru) .

私がやります。( = Watashi ga yarimasu.

私がします。( = Watashi ga shimasu.) “I will do (it).”

Note : Have you seen the popular TV series, “Heroes”? Hiro’s famous line is「やった！」( = Yatta!)

It is a very casual expression but everybody uses it. It means, “I did it!” “I made it!” ”All right!””Great!” or “Yes!!” We used it when things work out great.

•一緒に ( = issho ni) together, with me (us)

Do you want to do ~ with me? (together)?

It is a useful phrase when you want to invite someone to do something with you.

•ただ、( = tada) but, however, simply

•温泉卓球 ( = onsen takkyuu) table tennis in a hot-spring hotel.

Many of the big hot-spring hotels have karaoke, game corner and table tennis tables for customers.

It is kind of old fashioned to play table tennis in hotels nowadays. There is a comedy movie called 「卓球温泉」 ( = takkyuu onsen) , hot-spring spas which have table tennis, about a group of people who want to promote an old hot-spring town using a table tennis tournament. As you can see in the video, people who stay in Japanese hotels can go anywhere in 浴衣 ( = yukata) (casual kimono) and they even play table tennis wearing 浴衣 ( = yukata).

15 Comments

I was wondering if there is a special meaning for the particles “ni+demo”. I am reading them as “even to the onsen” but I could be wrong. I can only trust sensei on this one. XD

Also, I found interesting the way the desire of “going to a hot-spring and just relax” is conveyed in the sentence. By putting the “shitai” at the end, does that make the “itte” to have the nuance of “wanting to go” as well, as in “ikitai”?

2) 温泉にでも行きたい。= I feel like go to hot-spring. / I would like to go to a place like hot-spring.

Difference 1) While you want to go to a specific place which is 温泉 in the sentence 1), you want to go to a place such as 温泉 in the sentence 2).
Difference 2) Also in the sentence 1) shows your stronger will to go to hot-spring and 2) sounds softer and it suggests that it would be nice if I could go to hot-spring or I feel like going to hot-spring

Q 2) 温泉にでも行ってゆっくりしたい
~たい goes to two verbs “to go (to hot-spring) and “relax”
行きたいそしてゆっくりしたい
When you connect two verbs with たい, you can omit the first one.

今日は！今度日本に来たら温泉（おんせん）で卓球（たっきゅう）してみて下さいね。
( A little correction : こんなに勉強になれるなんて→こんなに勉強できるなんて 勉強になりました☆→in this case you used まギー先生から so 教わりました。is better. みんなにびっくりする→??You mean you are going to surprise everyone or you will be surprised with many things?)
また来てね！

Holy crap – that’s a detailed analysis of a Japanese commercial! I’m just letting you know how much I appreciate all the effort that went into this. I’m in the ‘upper-intermediate’ phase where I’m trying to transition into native material, and this is super helpful.

You can say “otsukare sama deshita.” to your teacher when she/he leaves or after class,
先生、どうもお疲れ様でした。(=Sensei doumo otsukare sama deshita.)
Thank you so much for all our hard work, (teacher)
(“doumo”(=very) gives more politeness.)

Both mean “Thank you for your hard work!” but the later, Gokurousama, is for when you address someone who work for you, like subordinates, assistants, handy man, delivery man, etc.
お疲れ様です。(=Otsukare sama desu ) is more polite and it is used for someone superior to you.
If you are not sure which to use, just stick to “otsukare sama desu” as many Japanese people do.

Note: But there is a very casual way, ”お疲れさん”(=Otsukare san). You should avoid using it to your teacher.